1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a compensation device capable of converting into a rectilinear path the normally curved path of the grinding wheel of a crack removing machine comprising a frame structure on which a post is mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, this post having an integral radial arm pivotally supporting in turn at its outer end about a vertical axis, a bracket, and a two-armed lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends about a horizontal pivot pin carried by the bracket, said two-armed lever being pivotally connected via a first double-acting fluid-actuated cylinder to said bracket while a second end of said two armed lever is pivotally connected to another, separate arm supporting the grinding wheel.
2. Description of the prior art
Flaw-removing machines are widely used in steel mills for eliminating, by means of a rotary grinding wheel kept at a constant height and to which a rectilinear horizontal and preferably reciprocating movement of translation is imparted, the surface flaws, cracks or splits occurring in raw-cast steel parts. In crack removing machines of the type disclosed and illustrated in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,709 herein incorporated by reference the grinding wheel path compensation device adapted to control automatically the first fluid-actuated cylinder as a function of the movements accomplished by the radial arm of the post pivotally mounted on the frame structure of the machine in order to convert the normally curved path of the grinding wheel into a rectilinear path consists of another cylinder carried by the radial arm of said post and supplying hydraulic fluid in parallel to said first cylinder, the piston rod of said another cylinder engaging a cam rigid with the frame structure of the machine. Therefore, this compensation device involves the use of a cam and a four-roller follower mechanism associated with said cam. In addition to its relatively high cost, this known compensation device is objectionable on account of its fragility.
It is the essential object of the present invention to provide a path compensation device of the type broadly set forth hereinabove, which is both simpler and more economical, and also sturdier and therefore has a longer useful life, than hitherto known devices of this character, with the additional advantage of avoiding detrimental mechanical plays.